Nội dung Text: Complete Guide to the Nikon D200- P10

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õ To set compensation hold the £ button on the top right
side of the camera and rotate the Rear Command dial until
the value you want is shown in the top LCD. You can also see
the value while looking through the viewfinder.
Top LCD:
Note: Choose the exposure compensation increment (third, half,
or full stops 86) with Custom Setting #B4 (see page < 438>).
F H
Once set, exposure compensation remains set until you use
the control again and set a value of 0.0.
Note: In Manual exposure mode, exposure compensation is
“invisible.” The zero point is moved when exposure
compensation is set. Try it. Set a correct exposure in Manual
exposure mode and then dial in compensation: you’ll see
that the manual exposure indicator moves off of 0 in direct
relationship to how much compensation you dialed in.
The D200 supports an alternate method of setting exposure
compensation via Custom Setting #B5; see “Exposure
Compensation Control” on page < 439>. When you set this
H
alternate method, called “Easy Exposure Compensation” by
Nikon, one of the command dials on the camera is used to
adjust compensation values, even when the £ button is not
held down! (Which dial is used depends upon your exposure
mode and the value of Custom Setting #F5.) Frankly, I think
this is a dangerous ability because if you forget that you have
it set, you may not notice that you’re setting compensation
instead of apertures or shutter speeds. Some D200 users do
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Half stops are shown in a series like this: 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and so on. Third
stops are always rounded and are shown as 0.0, 0.3, 0.7, 1, 1.3, 1.7, 2, and so on.
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find it useful, though, because they always shoot in one
exposure mode (usually Aperture-preferred) and it gives them
a convenient way to quickly take an exposure at a value
different from the metered one (i.e. take a picture, twirl a
Command dial (usually Rear, as the aperture is controlled by
the Front), take another picture at the compensated setting).
White Balance
All light is not created equal. The perceived color of an object
depends upon the light source that illuminates it. Our brains,
however, are pretty good at overriding what our eyes see. If
someone wearing a white shirt walks from the sun into the
shade (where the light is usually “bluer” due to reflections and
light scatter), our brain knows that shirt itself isn’t getting
bluer, even though the light being reflected by the shirt is now
reflecting a bluer light.
Unfortunately, both film and digital cameras respond to light
in a fixed fashion, so the resulting image taken with a camera
will reveal the shirt to be a bluish white in shade and a bright,
neutral white in the sun.
Color temperature is an objective measurement that defines
the temperature at which a “black body” object would have
to be heated to radiate light in the same wavelengths. Color
temperature—the color of light—is expressed in units of
Kelvin. Though it measures temperature, units of Kelvin do
not get a degree mark, just a K (e.g. 5200K, not 5200°K).
Lower numbers indicate a “redder” light (to our eyes), higher
numbers indicate bluer light. The light itself isn’t “red,” it just
has more red wavelength components than, say, a “bluer”
light (which would have more blue wavelength components).
On digital cameras, you set a “white balance” to adjust the
sensor to the wavelengths of light being captured. D200’s
have nine basic white balance settings:
â or A Automatic white balance. Nikon claims that this
function works at any color temperature between
3500K and 8000K. Note that most indoor lighting
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falls below that range! Moreover, my experience
tells me that the D200 gets less accurate towards
the extremes. I’d say the most accurate range is
much narrower, perhaps 4500 to 6200K.
× Indoor shots using incandescent light bulbs
(3000K)
å Indoor shots using fluorescent lighting (4200K)
® Outdoor shots in direct sunlight (5200K)
ç Indoor or outdoor shots lit primarily by flash
(5400K)
æ Outdoor shots in overcast skies (6000K)
ã Outdoor shots taken in shaded areas (8000K)
ä Manually set white balance using a white or
neutral object (Nikon doesn’t specify a range, but
we know that you can manually adjust a D200
from 2500K to 10,000K, so the range should be at
least that wide)
K Individual Kelvin values can be set
Note: Digital cameras fare less well using the Automatic white
balance setting with light that falls under 4000K (note that
Nikon doesn’t recommend Auto below 3500K for the
D200; yet I find that even at 4500K the camera tends to set
a white balance that’s a bit too high in Kelvin for the light).
That’s partially because the blue sensors receive very little
information at these so-called “warm” color temperatures,
so the minute amount of blue wavelengths being seen by
the sensor become a factor.
One novel way of coping with the problem of getting good
automatic white balance with indoor light is to simply
imitate what we used to do with film: use an 80B filter! The
80B shifts the 2900K color temperature of a 100-watt bulb
up to about 4300-4400K (an 80A would push it above
5000K), putting it within the range the camera handles well.
Tip: Nikon’s choice for normal outdoor lighting (5200K) should
raise eyebrows, though I haven’t seen anyone specifically
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comment on it. Daylight film is usually balanced to 5400K,
and many digital photographers set their default daylight
value even higher. (The origin of the 5400K number, by the
way, is interesting—it’s the average measurement of color
temperature, taken at noon on summer and winter solstice
on the Mall in Washington DC in 1926! Since altitude, time
of day, time of year, cloud cover, and distance from the
equator all alter daylight color temperature, one value does
not apply to every situation.) Don’t be afraid to experiment
a bit to find the white balance you like best. In general, I
find that Flash -2 is the quickest way for me to set a sunny
white balance I like, and I also tend to use much higher
color temperature values than Nikon suggests for most
indoor lighting (e.g. Incandescent -1 or –2).
The D200 detects white balance in two different ways: (1) via
the 1005-pixel sensor in the viewfinder; and (2) via the main
imaging sensor itself. Nikon doesn’t reveal how these two
systems interact, but it’s clear to me that the D200 has less
accurate automatic white balance than the D2x, which has a
dedicated white balance sensor.
Let’s look at color temperature in action. Since color
temperature for daylight was originally determined on the
Washington Mall, let’s go there for our test. Below you’ll find
a photo taken late in the day (in late April) of the Lincoln
Memorial. I’ve tweaked this photo a bit to saturate the colors
and tone down the sky (which also has a graduated neutral
density filter holding it back), but if you were standing next to
me at the time, this would be pretty close to what you saw:
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The left portion of the monument is the area we’ll work with
(though note the slight orange areas under the eaves in the
front—we’ll be coming back to those in a moment). Let’s look
at a number of options for white balance:
From left to right: 3400K, 3800K, 4400K, 4800K, and 5200K. I’ve
added just a bit of color saturation to emphasize the cast. All
photos taken at the same camera settings and processed through
Nikon Capture the same.
You should notice in the above examples that as the color
temperature on the camera is set lower than the actual value
present in the lighting, a blue cast appears in the photo. (That
again brings up Nikon’s choice of 5200K for Daylight—most
of the time you’ll find that it generates results that are slightly
on the blue side).
The further we get from the actual color temperature, the
more distinct that cast is. Note, too, that the cast applies to
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everything: sky, building, and bushes. It isn’t until you get
5200K that we begin to see some of the warmth that is in the
limestone and sky, and it isn’t until we get over 5500K that
the greens actually become fully green (no hint of blueness;
compare the larger photo with the rightmost small one and
look at the greens).
Remember those orange spots on the walls of the Memorial?
Those are areas lit by incandescent light, which has a lower
color temperature than daylight. Inside the Monument,
Lincoln’s bust is mostly lit by incandescent lighting. Here’s
another full photo to consider:
Lincoln Memorial at night, when only the internal overhead lighting
contributes to color temperature.
Now we’re dealing with mostly incandescent lighting, which
has a lower color temperature (most bulbs used on large
buildings like this one are of the Photoflood variety, and
about 3200K in output). There’s a bit of overhead fluorescent
in the Monument as well, but the incandescent pretty much
overwhelms it where Lincoln sits.
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From left to right: 3000K, 3200K, 3400K, 5000K, 6000K. All
camera settings and Nikon Capture settings otherwise the same.
You should notice in the above examples that as the color
temperature on the camera is set higher than the actual value
of the lighting, a red/orange cast appears in the photo. The
further we get from the actual color temperature, the more
distinct that cast is.
So remember that orange cast on the outside of the building?
That was caused by setting a color temperature higher than
the actual color temperature. Most of the building was lit by
the sun and sky, so the color temperature on those portions of
the building was high (5500K to 6000K based upon my
observation). The spots under the eaves that are orange were
lit by incandescent light that was close to 3400K. Thus, if the
rest of the building is rendered correctly, those spots turn
orange.
This illustrates a common problem: in many scenes, there is
no single color temperature of light that affects everything. An
area in shade on an otherwise sunny day may be slightly
higher color temperature than that in direct sun. Indoors you
may find both incandescent and fluorescent bulbs lighting
different areas. If the different lighting sources are equally
mixed on your subject, you can use the Preset method of
setting white balance and measure the value off a gray card
(see below). But if the areas of different lighting are separate—
incandescent lighting a foreground subject and fluorescent
lighting a background, for example, you have to pick a color
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temperature and live with the results, as I did in the photo
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outside the Lincoln Memorial . F
õ To set the white balance: press and hold the WB button
while rotating the Rear Command Dial until the icon for the
desired method is shown on the top LCD. The Front
Command Dial can be used to control the fine tuning of white
balance (setting –3 to +3 increments on the basic value—
more on that in a bit).
Top LCD:
Alternatively:
1. Press the MENU key to show the menu system.
2. Use the Direction pad to navigate to the SHOOTING
MENU (camera icon tab).
3. Use the Direction pad to select the White Balance
option and press the > key on the Direction pad to see
the submenu.
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Other solutions exist. You could filter one or other of the light sources, add light of a
different color (e.g. flash) to overwhelm the poor color, turn the troublesome light off,
and more.
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4. Use the Direction pad to highlight the white balance
option you want and press the > key to select it.
5. Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to set any
fine tuning you desire and the > key to complete the
setting.
Nikon only provides a cryptic system for indicating the fine
tuning changes (whole numbers from –3 to +3, where
negative numbers set a higher color temperature while
positive numbers make the color temperature lower—what
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was Nikon thinking? ). Here’s how these numbers influence
F
each of the white balance settings:
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I don’t know. But here’s what you should be thinking: higher values make for
cooler-looking pictures; conversely lower values make for warmer photos.
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5200K DIRECT SUN, Carbon arc lighting (movie sets)
5300K DIRECT SUN -1
5400K DIRECT SUN – 2, sunny daylight standard
5600K DIRECT SUN -3
5800K FLASH –2, Typical Nikon flash value
5900K
6000K FLASH –3, Brand new Nikon flash
6200K CLOUDY -1
6300K
6400K CLOUDY –2, high elevation sunny
6500K* FLUORESCENT -2
6600K CLOUDY -3
6700K SHADE +3
7100K SHADE +2, Overcast sky
7200K* FLUORESCENT -3
7500K SHADE +1
7700K
8000K SHADE
8300K
8400K SHADE -1
8800K SHADE -2
9100K
9200K SHADE -3, Shaded area in hazy sun
Note: If you also use a D1H or D1X, most of the named values
that were just shown are the same, though Nikon has made
a few shifts in the Incandescent values. The D2 series,
D70, D100, and D200 share the same Kelvin values.
The D200 also allows you to measure the lighting in a
particular location and manually select an appropriate white
balance using the PRE selection. To select and set a white
balance of PRE, there are additional steps you must take.
õ To set white balance from a neutral reference source (if the
white balance is already set to PRE, you can skip to Step 7):
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1. If the camera is in Manual exposure mode, set a
correct exposure for the gray or white card you’ll use
in Step 8, below, before proceeding.
2. Press the MENU key to show the menu system.
3. Use the Direction pad to navigate to the SHOOTING
MENU (the camera icon tab).
4. Use the Direction pad to navigate to the White
Balance option and press the > key on the Direction
pad to select it.
5. Navigate to White Balance Preset and press the >
key on the Direction pad to select it.
6. Navigate to the White Balance preset you wish to save
the value to (D-0 through D-4 are available) and press
the ENTER button to select it.
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a. You can name your presets. Press the center of
the Direction pad. You’ll see a new menu:
b. Use the Direction pad to navigate to Edit
Comment and press the > key to select it.
c. Enter your name for the preset (Direction pad
navigates to a letter, center of the Direction
pad inputs the currently highlighted letter,
ENTER button ends the entry; same key
functions as in Image Comment).
d. Your preset should now have a name (note
bottom area of screen shot):
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7. Press and hold the WB button on the camera until PRE
begins flashing on the top LCD and in the viewfinder.
8. If you wish to measure off a neutral gray or white card,
frame it fully in the viewfinder and press the shutter
release.
9. If an acceptable white balance value was measured,
you’ll see GOOD on the top LCD (GD in the viewfinder).
If the camera couldn’t get a usable reading, you’ll see
NO GD in both the top LCD and the viewfinder. If you
see NO GD, return to step 7 and try again.
If you see NO GD instead, check your exposure and try
again.
Note: You can perform the naming step (Step 6, above), after
you’ve performed the white balance, but I generally prefer
to do it in the order listed.
To set a white balance from an existing photo:
1. Press the MENU key to show the menu system.
2. Use the Direction pad to navigate to the SHOOTING
MENU (the green camera icon tab).
3. Use the Direction pad to navigate to the White
Balance option and press the > key on the Direction
pad to select it.
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4. Navigate to White Balance Preset and press the >
key on the Direction pad to select it.
5. Navigate to the preset setting (D-0 to D-4) you want to
use and press the center of the Direction pad to select
it.
6. Navigate to Select Image and press the > key on the
Direction pad to select it.
7. Navigate to the image you want to use and press the
center of the Direction pad to select it.
8. At this point you can continue and name this image
by pressing the center of the Direction pad and
selecting Edit Comment (it normally picks up the
Image Comment field, by the way) or you can just
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press the Enter button to complete the setting.
Note: You can only copy white balance from an image taken with
a D200. Curiously, the D200 will sometimes show you
images from other cameras, but you’ll get an error message
(Can only use photo taken with D200) if you select one.
You may wonder why you’d want to copy white balance from
an existing picture on the card. Let me give you an example
of when this is handy. Let’s say you were assigned to shoot a
wedding. During a relatively short period of time you need to
take pictures in the wings of the church, at the altar during the
ceremony, out on the steps of church, and in several different
rooms at the reception. Let’s assume further that all these
locations have tricky lighting conditions (any wedding
photographer can tell you that they usually do). You’re also
going to be moving back and forth amongst those locations
and don’t want to chance missing a moment because you
were trying to figure out white balance. Worse still, there are
more than five locations, so you can’t simply store each one
into one of the presets.
You can run around prior to the service and capture custom
white balances for each of the locations, taking a picture with
the correct white balance at each. Now, as you move from
location to location during the wedding, you could quickly
grab the white balance from an image you’ve already taken
instead of having to go through the entire gray card reading
method of setting white balance. Unfortunately, it doesn’t
really save an enormous number of steps on the D200, but it
is convenient enough to be effective in actual practice
(moreover, you don’t have to keep getting your gray card out).
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Once you’ve assigned a preset value, either via measurement
or reference image, you can quickly recall it at any time by
simply choosing a white balance of PRE (and making sure
you’ve picked the right preset, D-0 through D-4).
Note: Practical field tests show that PRE works more consistently
using a neutral gray card than it does with a white card (the
Nikon manual suggests either). A neutral gray card should,
by definition, generate a correct exposure and has no color
cast. A white card is often underexposed (as compared to
the eventual scene, unless you use Manual exposure mode
and exactly followed my instructions, above) and
sometimes contains a colored pigment to make it appear
“whiter.” Suggestion: use white in a pinch, but bring a
Kodak gray card with you whenever possible and use it for
setting white balance.
Tip: You can use slightly colored cards to make the overall color
balance warmer (redder) or cooler (bluer). Just pick a light
version of the color you want to remove from the scene. For
example, to make a warmer (redder) rendition, use Pre and
measure on a light blue card. To remove green from
fluorescent lights, try using a light green card. If you don’t
want to go to the trouble of making your own cards, do
what the video pros do: buy a pre-made set from
http://www.warmcards.com.
H
Note: White Balance settings are maintained when the camera is
turned OFF and turned back ON.
You can also bracket the white balance settings on the D200:
1. Make sure that Image Quality isn’t set to NEF (white
balance bracketing only functions for JPEG images).
2. Set Custom Setting #E5 to WB bracketing. (See
“Exposure Bracketing Method” on page < 462>). H
3. Hold down the Á button while rotating the Rear
Command dial until À appears in the top LCD. When
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this icon is displayed, exposure bracketing is active.
4. Tell the camera how many pictures by holding down
the Á button and rotating the Rear Command dial,
and at what white balance intervals by holding down
the Á button and rotating the Front Command dial
until the top LCD displays your selection (see “D200
White Balance Bracketing Values Table,” below).
õ Turning white balance bracketing OFF is easy: simply
repeat Step 3, above, but rotate the Rear Command dial until
À no longer appears.
D200 White Balance Bracketing Values Table
Top LCD Display # of Shots Exposures
3F 1 3 set value, -1, +1 fine tuning
3F 2 3 set value, -2, +2 fine tuning
3F 3 3 set value, -3, +3 fine tuning
+ 2F 1 2 set value, +1 fine tuning
+ 2F 2 2 set value, +2 fine tuning
+ 2F 3 2 set value, +3 fine tuning
- 2F 1 2 set value, -1 fine tuning
- 2F 2 2 set value, -2 fine tuning
- 2F 3 2 set value, -3 fine tuning
5, 7, and 9 frame sequences are the same as those listed for 3, only
the set goes further (e.g. to –2, +2 fine tuning for 5F). If the
sequence goes beyond +3 or –3, the same implied 10 MIRED
increment is used to extend the sequence.
One final word about white balance: if you shoot NEF files,
you can select your white balance after the fact (and try out
different white balances to see which you like). Both the
Nikon Photoshop plug-in and Nikon Capture allow you to
choose a white balance before the computer interpolates the
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90
final image data . Be careful of images with blown channels,
F
however. When you blow out a single channel and then later
try to adjust white balance using a NEF converter, you may
see slight, uncontrollable shifts in the color of highlight detail,
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especially if you use third party converters . F
Changing Color Characteristics
Besides white balance, several other camera controls have an
92
influence on the color, and to a lesser degree, exposure , in F
the image captured by the D200: Optimize Image, Tone
Compensation, Hue Adjustment, Saturation, Color
Space, and Color Mode. I’ll deal with Color Space later in
the book (see “Color Profiles, Color Spaces, and Color
Modes” on page < 557>), but the other controls are, like white
H
balance, controls that you tend to set in the field, so we’ll deal
with them now.
The D200 tries to simplify the setting of these items (and a few
others) by grouping them together under one-word shortcuts
on the Optimize Image. You can set Normal, Vivid, More
Vivid, Softer, Portrait, Black-and-White, and Custom.
Only this last option, Custom, allows you to fine tune the
individual color and contrast controls. If you set the camera to
one of the other options, the camera makes those choices for
you:
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Actually, all raw converters do, though some may not access the encrypted white
balance information stored by the camera (see “The NEF White Balance
Controversy,” on page ).
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Very early versions of Capture used to display this problem, too. Recent versions of
Capture, including the 4.4 version needed for the D200, seem to use a more
sophisticated white balance algorithm that better deals with blown channels. Still,
I’ve seen subtle shifts in colors where a channel is blown—for example, the
highlights on many blooming flowers in bright light will saturate a channel (usually
the Red or Blue), and then parts of the petal will shift color slightly differently as you
post-process white balance. Fortunately, the D200 allows you to look at individual
channel histograms, which will help you avoid blown channels.
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Technically, the exposure isn’t changed, but when you begin adjusting colors
and contrast, our perception of the exposure may change.
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